Conway review board majority recommends termination of Officer Britney Byrd over response to April 13 mass shooting

Assistant Chief Mike Welsh told a review hearing on June 26 that he recommended termination of Conway police Officer Britney Byrd after a majority of the department's review board concluded she violated six department policies in her response to the April 13 mass shooting. The review board, Welsh said, found unsatisfactory performance, insubordination, failure to follow emergency-vehicle policy, violations of body‑worn camera rules, and a truthfulness violation tied to Byrd's explanation of her route. "My recommendation to the chief was termination," Welsh said. The board examined dash-cam, body-cam and GPS data, radio logs, and surveillance video to reconstruct Byrd's route from the funeral-home/church parking lot to Fifth Avenue Park. Lieutenant Tom Kennedy, the investigator who compiled the files, told the panel he had gathered GPS data, video and interviews and uploaded the investigative file for the review board to consider. Kennedy testified he did not alter the GPS files provided to him and that some data displayed in Central Standard Time…